Likelihoods for fixed rank nomination networks
| Autor: | Peter D. Hoff, Alexander Volfovsky, Katherine Stovel, Bailey K. Fosdick |
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| Rok vydání: | 2013 |
| Předmět: |
Ordinal data
Sociology and Political Science Social Psychology Computer science Communication 05 social sciences Bayesian probability 050401 social sciences methods Inference Statistical model Missing data 01 natural sciences Article Marginal likelihood 010104 statistics & probability 0504 sociology Complete information Statistics Statistical inference Econometrics 0101 mathematics |
| Zdroj: | Network Science. 1:253-277 |
| ISSN: | 2050-1250 2050-1242 |
| Popis: | Many studies that gather social network data use survey methods that lead to censored, missing, or otherwise incomplete information. For example, the popular fixed rank nomination (FRN) scheme, often used in studies of schools and businesses, asks study participants to nominate and rank at most a small number of contacts or friends, leaving the existence of other relations uncertain. However, most statistical models are formulated in terms of completely observed binary networks. Statistical analyses of FRN data with such models ignore the censored and ranked nature of the data and could potentially result in misleading statistical inference. To investigate this possibility, we compare Bayesian parameter estimates obtained from a likelihood for complete binary networks with those obtained from likelihoods that are derived from the FRN scheme, and therefore accommodate the ranked and censored nature of the data. We show analytically and via simulation that the binary likelihood can provide misleading inference, particularly for certain model parameters that relate network ties to characteristics of individuals and pairs of individuals. We also compare these different likelihoods in a data analysis of several adolescent social networks. For some of these networks, the parameter estimates from the binary and FRN likelihoods lead to different conclusions, indicating the importance of analyzing FRN data with a method that accounts for the FRN survey design. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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